MoD officials question Rafale deal

Top officials conclude that Dassault's Rafale had the lowest bid for the MMRCA deal.

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Saurabh Shukla

New Delhi

February 17, 2012

UPDATED: February 18, 2012 08:20 IST

The country's biggest defence deal for the purchase of 126 Rafale fighter jets, estimated to be worth around Rs 62,000 crore, seems to be running into rough weather.

Top government sources said on Friday that two senior officials of the ministry of defence (MoD), who are members of the contract negotiation committee, have questioned the methods adopted by it to conclude that French company Dassault's Rafale had the lowest bid for the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) deal.

The contract negotiation committee comprises senior officials from the MoD and the Indian Air Force.

The contract is yet to be vetted by the ministry of finance before it is finally approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security.

Rafale was declared as the lowest bid after the evaluation of the commercial bids made by the different companies to the MoD. Rafale had pipped British fighter jet Eurofighter Typhoon, while the other rivals from the US, Russia and Sweden were eliminated in different stages of competition.